Saturday, January 28, 2017

A New Year - and a New Post on Twitter and the #FF Follow Friday Tweets!

The #ff Follow Friday Tweets

For those who receive the #ff tweets and know how they work, please feel free to skip the first bit of this. However, if it is all new to you, then read on.

Every Friday I send out a series of Tweets, all with the hashtag "#ff" in them, followed by a short random group of names.

They all go out OK, but Twitter does funny things relating to how it indexes tweets, so an appearance in your timeline is not guaranteed. A good way to look for it is to search for your twitter name in the search box on your twitter page. This also works with Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. If you are using a laptop or PC I recommend you use either Tweetdeck or Hootsuite.

a. Click on Search

b. Put your twitter name without the @ the searchbox, so I would put jjackson42

c. Click to search.

This way you should see ALL tweets where your Twitter name has appeared, although I can't guarantee it will work.

When you receive a Tweet with the hashtag #ff, then feel free to "Like" it, and to Retweet it, and, most importantly, to Follow the other names in the Tweet. Due to the strange way Twitter works (i.e. badly) re-tweeting it will help others in the message to see it.

The names you see will ALWAYS be names of writers, bloggers, agents, publishers, etc. In other words, people or organizations who are actively engaged in this mad and lonely world of writing. Each week you should see a different group of names.

I have spent some considerable time going through all MY followers to identify RNA members, followed by other UK based writers I know. If you know any RNA members who are NOT on the list and you think they should be, then do let me know.

Most of the writers work in the romantic genre, but there are also many members who write crime, historical, sci-fi, young adult, etc. The list is mostly of writers, etc. based in the UK and Ireland, but with some from Europe, etc. There are some US based writers, but very few, and these tend to be writers I know.

Click on the names and "Follow" the person. This is a good and meaningful way of expanding your twitter pool of followers. You also expand your group of followers slowly and gently, so you get the chance to see what these new followers are tweeting about.

If YOU think someone should be "on the list" then feel free to let me know.

Remember, Twitter is a "LIVE" medium, so do post regularly. Not just your own book-related news, but retweet news of your friend's announcements and successes. People, i.e. your followers, LIKE to know stuff about you. They also relish pictures of your cats, grandkids, friends, etc.

The more you use it, the more you get out of it – just like many things in life.

The one thing NOT to do is to send endless Tweets saying "Buy My Book!" 2 or 3 times in a day is fine. 36 times a day is SPAM!. Remember, the Tweet goes to the SAME people every time. 2 or 3 times in a day is enough to catch the main timezones.

Re the book(s) The manuscript for A Heart of Stone has been finished, including all the suggested edits, and structural changes. I have also edited it down to under 90,000 words, which is the canonical length for a first historical novel.

I am still farming it around, trying to get an agent or publisher. Meanwhile I am working on Book 2, with a working title of The Greener Grass. It concerns the next generation of Rochforts, specifically Jane Rochfort who seems to have been a real rackety sort and went all over Europe leaving debts behind her. I'm up to 25,000 words and a bit bogged down. It WILL come, though.

If I can't get A Heart of Stone away by midsummer, I will self-publish, probably on Amazon Create Space. I have had some good recommendations for them from my friends in the Harrogate chapter of the RNA.

I am busy researching Book 2, and have been greatly helped by Kate William's England's Mistress, which is crammed with detail on all areas of life at around exactly the right period. Very helpful. Emma Hamilton mentions Jane Rochfort in her letters, just after she (Jane) and her husband, John King, had fled Naples leaving a mountain of debts!!In the meantime – its back to the struggle, or, as some would have it, the opportunity :).